Gold Medalist Huish Has Arrest Record

Olympic gold medal archer Justin Huish was convicted of vandalism three years ago after acknowledging that he drunkenly spray-painted the property of an African-American couple whose mail box and driveway were initialed with the letters, “KKK.”

Court records show Huish, 21, who won two gold medals in Atlanta, pleaded no contest to misdemeanor vandalism in September 1993 after being charged with vandalism and a civil rights violation.

Huish was sentenced to three years probation and 120 hours of community service, paid $100 in restitution and agreed not to possess any alcoholic beverage, according to court records.

Before a Simi Valley City Hall celebration Monday honoring the city’s Olympians, Huish declined comment, referring questions to his mother, Ona.

“Justin is really upset about this,” she said. “He’d just turned 18. . . . It’s a mistake he made when he was extremely young, and he’s learned from this mistake.”

Perry Sanders, a sales analyst whose home was the target of the black spray paint, said he holds no grudges against Huish. “As long as he’s learned from his mistake, hey, we’ve all done something stupid,” Sanders said.

At the time of the incident, Sanders said, he was concerned about his family and disappointed by the vandalism. An eight-year Simi Valley resident, he said he has never experienced anything similar there.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron Bamieh, the prosecutor who handled the Huish case, said Huish’s lack of a racist history helped convince the district attorney’s office not to press for conviction on the civil rights count. “We did think he was writing it to be a jerk more than he was writing it for racial motives,” Bamieh said. “And he had an enormous number of African-American friends who were going to come forward to his defense.”

Kelley is a Times staff writer and Baker is a correspondent.